Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Geek Culture / Vista Only Dell Boxes? Stupid or evil?

Author
Message
heartbone
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Nov 2002
Location:
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 05:00
Link
Frank said:

Just got a new Dell Dimension e520 with Vista Home Basic. Cubase and my sound input box (Tascam us-122) do not work.

Tried to install Windows XP Pro so I can get running again. BSOD when I try to boot from Windows XP install disc. Dell tech support says that my system is incompatible with XP. No exchange option. My only choice is to return the box for refund.

My first and last Dell experience.

I would love to just have my Dual Core Dell with XP SP2. Why must it be so difficult???!

March 6, 2007 5:23 PM

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/01/29/5325.aspx#6561

I wonder if it's just XP that is locked out?
What if the user had waited until after the warranty before getting frustrated enough?
This is really horrible.

What do you think, conspiracy of greed or technical stupidity?

I'm unique, just like everybody else.
Back to top
Profile PM Website
bitJericho
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Oct 2002
Location: United States
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 06:25
Link
dell just sucks... technical stupidity It's one thing to sell a compy with vista, ye, I'm for it.. But locking out xp is retarded.. likely a restriction set in by microsoft in the oem agreement?

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 08:08
Link
I did a little digging on this and here's what I found so far:
Quote: "
Dell is actually blocking people from replacing Vista with XP. I have a friend who is in the IT department of an insurance company and it was her job to get a new computer ready. Well they've made the decision NOT to upgrade to Vista just yet, so she tried to wipe the HD and install XP.

No go. The computer locked up and blue screened every time. Then she used a Dell XP CD from an older computer and voila, it worked. Dell puts something in their BIOS to block non-Dell XP installs"



Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
GatorHex
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 5th Apr 2005
Location: Gunchester, UK
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 13:34 Edited at: 15th Apr 2007 13:35
Link
Dell sell some cheap stuff which can be a bargain but I've heard other horror stories like..

The motherboard/case is proprietory and if your MB dies they want loads of money for a replacement! You can't stick in a 3rd party board because the case is designed only for a Dell board product!

The card slot on their laptops doesn't take PCMCIA devices!

On the positive side..

I would like to congratulate the designer at Dell who designed the CPU cover/location on it's recent laptops. With the removal of 1 screw you can get access to the heat sink to clean it and replace the CPU. Normaly trying to do this taking like million screws out of you laptop!

http://www.KumKie.com http://bulldog.servegame.com
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Seppuku Arts
Moderator
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 13:38
Link
This is why I don't like it whenever an Mac vs Windows debate comes up, and the first thing someone does is compare it to a Dell for price, Dell's are cheap because they are unreliable a lot of the time, its fine if you need a cheap computer.

Did The Buddha have a Zen micro?
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Wandering Swordsman
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 14th Jun 2006
Location:
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 13:58 Edited at: 15th Apr 2007 13:59
Link
"Dude! your getting a Dell!"

Preventing WinXP from being installed is both stupid and evil.

I've had nothing but trouble with Dell machines when I've had to use them.
Old used machines, Scrapped them for parts...

I've heard you can swap out the Bios chip with another to bypass some of the annoyances.

Although I'm pretty sure doing so will void your warranty.

When I dream,
I carry a sword in one hand,
a gun in the other...
Back to top
Profile PM
hessiess
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Mar 2007
Location: pc!
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 23:01 Edited at: 15th Apr 2007 23:03
Link
dell is rubish, my dad tried to get my brother a computer aboyt harf a year ago, thay sed that it would be diliverd on the friday, it wasent. sed it would be diliverd on sinday and it wasent, this repeted about 4 more times. then the order was cancled. dell uset to be good but thay have become usless resantly. vista sucks it has to meny fetures desined to stop you doing things.

i would say that there is a conspiracy
Back to top
Profile PM Email
soapyfish
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Oct 2003
Location: Yorkshire, England
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 23:17
Link
Quote: "i would say that there is a conspiracy "


Yeh, someone always says that.

We are the angry mob, we read the papers every day. We like who we like, we hate who we hate but we're also easily swayed!
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Seppuku Arts
Moderator
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 16th Apr 2007 01:07
Link
Indeed and 100% of the time they're right...Remember the pixies Soapy, they're always plotting.

Did The Buddha have a Zen micro?
Back to top
Profile PM Website
IanM
Retired Moderator
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Sep 2002
Location: In my moon base
Posted: 16th Apr 2007 01:26
Link
I used to own a Dell laptop, with 3 years extra 'Engineer to the door' cover for £150, and saved myself £1000's, literally. The odd-sized display blew twice (£600 a go), memory blew once, processor blew once, CD Drive needed replacing twice.

Funnily enough, each time I needed it to be fixed, they couldn't trace the extra cover - it got so that I kept the original order number available just in case. as proof that I was covered.

So, if you buy Dell, make sure you get the extra cover! On the other hand, as each support call would take at least 3 days (in one case 2 weeks), don't buy Dell.

For free Plug-ins and source code
http://www.matrix1.demon.co.uk
New Utility plugins collection
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 16th Apr 2007 04:34
Link
At my friend's work, they use a bunch of Dell D600 laptops and he has to constantly fix them. The motherboards blow all the time. Well, my friend told me that Mr. Dell himself was taking back the company since it went downhill so much since he left. So maybe they'll improve and become more respected like they were in the 90's.


Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
dark donkey
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th May 2006
Location:
Posted: 16th Apr 2007 12:26
Link
im useing a dell now, its classed as a computer for high end graphic aplications and multimeadia exspearinance. I dont think it is actually.

For example in WoW i play horde thee massive city is called orgrimar, i need to go there to buy pvp rewards with my honour. To my supprise the city has too many people in the computer goes laggy then blue screen, wen i try log onto my char again after loading screen blue screen comes up. Then i go through the processes on cantancting a gm to move me from the coty so i can continue playeing.
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Seppuku Arts
Moderator
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 16th Apr 2007 12:44
Link
That's one reason why MMORPGs annoy me, so many people crowd one place and murder your FPS

Did The Buddha have a Zen micro?
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Benjamin
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Nov 2002
Location: France
Posted: 16th Apr 2007 14:14
Link
Quote: "That's one reason why MMORPGs annoy me, so many people crowd one place and murder your FPS"

So not one actual aspect of the game genre annoys you at all, just a general aspect that can apply to many games?

Tempest (DBP/DBCe)
Multisync V1 (DBP/DBCe)
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Thraxas
Retired Moderator
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Feb 2006
Location: The Avenging Axe, Turai
Posted: 20th Apr 2007 14:57 Edited at: 20th Apr 2007 14:58
Link
Users force Dell to resurrect XP

Power to the people!
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Seppuku Arts
Moderator
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 20th Apr 2007 18:06
Link
Well that's one reason, there are other aspects, like getting disconnected, busy servers, morons, the fact most get boring after a while, so really, I'm actually better off playing Neverwinter Nights. But that still gets repetitive after a while.

Did The Buddha have a Zen micro?
Back to top
Profile PM Website
heartbone
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Nov 2002
Location:
Posted: 20th Apr 2007 23:18
Link
Thraxas , from your linked article I gleaned this quote.

"This is really odd," said Michael Silver, research vice president at analysts Gartner. "On new PCs, consumers usually do want the latest and greatest."

Well yes we do, but in this case they are not the same, so there's nothing odd here.
The smarter ones will take the greatest over the lastest anytime.

In response Microsoft said that Dell was responding to a "small minority" of customers who had a very "specific" request.

Sure like a properly functioning computer that works for, not against a user.

I'm unique, just like everybody else.
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Hobgoblin Lord
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 29th Oct 2005
Location: Fall River, MA USA
Posted: 21st Apr 2007 00:18
Link
I had to call Dell last week, My sister in laws lap-top did not come with a restore disk so I called up to get one. Now I dont mind if I get to the wrong place after going through the automated system, sometimes you just choose wrong, but I got transferred to so many different people who all swore they were gonna get me the right person (took well over an hour and 5 transfers). All I could think was

"Sorry Mario but the Dell tech support you are looking for is in another castle."

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=73324&b=8
My RPG WIP, check it out
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 21st Apr 2007 10:51
Link
hehehehe.

I'm getting kind of sick of having to fix computers that don't include a restore disk. Or if they do have a restore, its on a separate partition of the harddrive. So what happens when you have to replace the drive? Nothing! 'Cause you still can't restore. I don't know why its such a hard problem to just send a CD with the PC. I mean AOL manages to send out millions of CDs to everyone and we don't even want those. I'm sure each person would be willing to pay the extra 2 cents it'd cost companies to burn that restore CD.


Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Don Malone
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Apr 2003
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Posted: 21st Apr 2007 15:51
Link
I am pretty sure that at least one vendor would include restore disks and tout that as a feature if they could do it. So why don't they?

I am probably wrong, it happens so much, but I think it is something in the Microsoft License for Windows to the Computer vendor, that requires no restore disk be sent with the computer. Or that they would have a different (more expensive) license deal to contend with.

MS probably hopes people will have to get a new version of Windows to fix their system because they did not burn a restore disk when they got the system.

Making nothing for the third straight year.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
UnderLord
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 2nd Aug 2003
Location:
Posted: 21st Apr 2007 18:05
Link
Quote: "because they are unreliable a lot of the time, its fine if you need a cheap computer."


I have a 2000$(USD) dell XPS 1210 and it never gives me any problems, it won't run oblivion but it will run X3: Reunion on the highest settings....80% of problems with computers are user related and not hardware related.

Quote: "For example in WoW i play horde thee massive city is called orgrimar, i need to go there to buy pvp rewards with my honour. To my supprise the city has too many people in the computer goes laggy then blue screen, wen i try log onto my char again after loading screen blue screen comes up. Then i go through the processes on cantancting a gm to move me from the coty so i can continue playeing."


Most likely it is not your computer but the windows OS or another program that could cause this but hardware that is installed incorrectly can cause this (but its rare)

Usually re-installing the OS can get it to work correctly.

"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
Back to top
Profile PM
the_winch
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 1st Feb 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posted: 21st Apr 2007 18:39 Edited at: 21st Apr 2007 18:40
Link
Quote: "MS probably hopes people will have to get a new version of Windows to fix their system because they did not burn a restore disk when they got the system."


They don't care because they have no effective competition. How many people have switched to another OS because they didn't get an install cd? Even the install cd concept is pretty outdated when you have a separate license key stuck to the box.

Why don't Microsoft provide an up to date install cd for download on their website? Or at least a small boot disk then will stream the rest from the net during installation?
Instead you have to possibly pay for an old install cd then after installation download loads of updates.

When pirates have it so much better then genuine customers it's obvious Microsoft are not even trying to make it better for home users. They won't until there is some competition and home users start switching to another OS.

By way of demonstration, he emitted a batlike squeak that was indeed bothersome.
Back to top
Profile PM Website
GatorHex
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 5th Apr 2005
Location: Gunchester, UK
Posted: 22nd Apr 2007 08:52 Edited at: 23rd Apr 2007 02:09
Link
Quote: "My sister in laws lap-top did not come with a restore disk "


it will be on a hidden partition on the hard drive and you normaly get to it by holding an F-key during boot up.

I think they put it on the hard drive, and retrict the BIOS because MS make 'em!

That reminds me of some other Dell annoyances...

Open the case of you PC and every time you boot up it plasters "WARNING THE CASE HAS BEEN OPENED" meaning you no longer have a waranty -.-

Adverts on your PC. I thought I'd wiped them all but after a year one still managed to creep up on the screen saying "YOUR DELL BATTERY IS NO LONGER FUNCTIONING TO OPTIMAL PERFORMACE AND WE RECOMMEND YOU BUY A NEW ONE!!!"

Dell = Cheap = Annoying! (reliability has been ok for me though)

http://www.KumKie.com http://bulldog.servegame.com
Back to top
Profile PM Website
heartbone
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Nov 2002
Location:
Posted: 22nd Apr 2007 19:41
Link
Why Dell is resurrecting Windows XP
Great comments from the Seattle area users.

I'm unique, just like everybody else.
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Steve J
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 22nd Apr 2006
Location: Vancouver, Washington
Posted: 22nd Apr 2007 21:10
Link
I live near seattle, and my view is entirely different, I guess knowledge and experience isnt a factor for you heart bone, its just who posts the most, and what location they are. Seriously, that is quite annoying.

pleading and needing and bleeding and breeding and feeding exceeding..where is everybody? trying and lying defying denying crying and dying..where is everybody?
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Back to top

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-11-18 12:37:17
Your offset time is: 2024-11-18 12:37:17